Immigration

We believe the best path forward to reform the broken immigration system in the United States is through a streamlined, market-based and employment-driven policy. The ongoing failure of Washington to develop and approve a sound immigration policy threatens our national security, economic prosperity and the cohesion of the family unit. So long as the American economy is strong, immigrants will look to the United States as the beacon of hope for a better future. The LIBRE Initiative® believes in immigration reform that is focused on providing immigrants that are willing to work in the United States the ability to legally enter the country through a streamlined, commonsense process that also allows American employers to satisfy workforce demand in their markets.

Market-based and employment-driven approach to immigration reform: The status quo is unacceptable. A streamlined, less bureaucratic immigration process will provide a legal path to work for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living and working in the United States. We believe that implementing a robust employment-driven policy where free market demand drives the quantity of available worker visas will discourage unauthorized immigration.

Worker Visas: Despite our dynamic economy and new demands for a diversified global talent pool, our current system for work visas hasn’t changed much since 1965. A modern-day, employment-based and market-driven policy will allow people to meet specific labor-market needs without capping visas and provide employers with the workforce they require to drive their business.

Children of Immigrants: Minor children of immigrants that are here through no fault of their own and whose parent is legally working in the United States should be given legal status. College-bound undocumented immigrant students who have proven themselves should be afforded the opportunity to earn a professional degree in our nation’s higher education system, especially those interested in pursuing STEM degrees. We must ensure that we are preparing the next generation of workers to compete in the global marketplace of the future.

STEM Graduates: The United States is losing its competitive edge in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries to other countries whose system of hiring foreign-born STEM graduates is less complicated and bureaucratic. Universities in the United States have been unable to produce enough U.S. born STEM field graduates to satisfy the industries operating in our country. LIBRE supports a policy that gives high-tech companies the incentive to do business in the United States by providing unlimited visas for the best and brightest foreign-born doctoral and master degree STEM graduates from American universities who wish to work in the United States.

Border Security: The focus of U.S. border security should be to defend against people that present risks to national safety, as determined by Congress, and not those who simply want to work. By providing a modern and commonsense process that would allow immigrants to enter and work legally in the United States, we believe that there will be less criminal activity along the border from cartels that currently capitalize on the black market of unauthorized immigration.

For more information on the ESTAMOS CONTIGO campaign for immigration reform click here.